Protest
by Granger-Danger-62442
Summary: Because someone needs to talk sense into the both of them.


**Yes, another one of these. Yes, there will be spoilers, so read at your own discretion.**

**Set sometime after Lanie and Kate's little chat in the sneak peek, but assuming that things didn't go as well as they'd hoped. Which, naturally, led to another girl chat, and then this.**

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><p>At the knock on his door, Castle drags himself out of his office with a sigh. He glances at the clock on the way, noting the hour, and mentally goes through his list of people that would show up on his doorstep this late.<p>

Suddenly, answering doesn't seem like such a good idea. In fact, he'd almost rather go back into his office, and resume his task of drinking himself into a happy stupor.

Maybe happy isn't quite the right word. He likes ignorant better; there seems to be a lot of that going around.

He hesitates, hand on the door, and contemplates just walking away. It'd be easy, so easy to do.

Then the knock sounds again, and the voice that accompanies it has him fumbling the handle in surprise. When he finally manages to get it open, he blinks. "Lanie?"

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><p>"So not to be rude but… why are you here?" He sets his glass of water down on the table in front of him, sensing that he's going to want to be a sober as he can manage for the coming conversation.<p>

The doctor sighs as she sits in the chair across from him, raising an eyebrow. "Why do you _think_ I'm here?"

That's easy; she's a mediator. A go-between. Ka-Beckett must have sent her, tried to figure out if they're still good. He scoffs inwardly. Still scare-

"Kate doesn't know I'm here, so you can go ahead and stop."

Oh. He feels something suspiciously like guilt form low in his gut, but he shoves that away quickly. It won't do him any good to feel guilty, not about this. Something that she started.

"Well?" Lanie's voice cuts through his thoughts.

"Well?" He repeats.

"Spill!" She crosses her arms over her chest. "What's your damn deal?"

"What?" He keeps his face neutral, voice level, even though he can feel his agitation mounting. "Why do I have a 'deal'? I'm fine."

"Obviously not, if you're freezing my girl out like this. And have to say, parading around with anything that's got two leg and double X chromosomes? Nice touch." She glares at him. "Spill!"

"Nothing happened." A raised eyebrow, and he amends his statement grudgingly "Nothing-"

"-'important anyways'." She finishes, regarding him coldly, and he blinks. " Yeah, I know about that. Moving on. What happened between you two?"

The writer shrugs, unconcerned, leaning back against the couch. "Honestly Lanie, there isn't anything to talk about. This stuff just happens. People grow apart."

Silence meets his statement as it bounces around the room like a death sentence. When she next speaks, her voice is quiet, disbelieving.

It cuts through him like a knife.

"You cannot seriously be telling me that. I've seen how you look at her, hell, the whole precinct has. Anyone with a damn pulse can tell how head over in heels in love you are."

She pauses at that, as if gauging his reaction to her charge. He gives her nothing but a cool mask of indifference, and a single word:

"Was."

"What?" She uncrosses her arms, slides her hands to her hips instead. "Sorry, I must not have heard you correctly."

"I _was_ in love with her, sure. Now…" Castle raises a shoulder, twists his glass in his hands. "I'm tired of waiting."

Lanie stares at him, incredulity etched into every line of her face. "Richard Castle, that has got to be the biggest load of bullshit that I've ever heard come out of your mouth- and that's saying something. Love is not a damn switch," she persists, unknowingly echoing his mother's words from earlier. "You can't just turn it off whenever the hell you feel like it!"

"I already told her!" He spits out, standing up from his seat as the grief clawing at his chest makes it impossible to sit still any longer. "I told her and she spent three months trying to forget!"

"Yeah," Lanie shoots back, "because confessing your love to someone when they're bleeding out in the grass is definitely the way to go! Cut the woman some slack!"

He growls, throws his hands up in the air and pacing several steps away. "What am I supposed to do then, Dr. Parish?"

"Tell her again! Only this time, man up and do it when she's conscious!"

"Oh don't even talk about me being cowardly," he snarls. Anger, good. He can work with that. "That's a two way road, and you know it!"

"You're not even going to give her a chance to explain herself?" Lanie is looking at him indignantly, and that only drives the spike in deeper.

"What should I? Why would I waste my time on someone who clearly doesn't-" He breaks off abruptly, knowing he's said too much.

But then again, what does he care about his dignity anymore? He feels empty, hollowed out; like everything was ripped away in that interrogation room, and he's been left barren of all but the hurt that never quite seems to leave.

When he finally finds the strength to meet the other woman's gaze, he stumbles back at her expression.

"Is that what you think?" Her voice is quiet, unreadable, but there's something there that makes his heart stutter painfully.

"Lanie-"

"Nuh uh, Castle." She interrupts, "You shut up right now."

Too stunned to argue, the writer does just that.

"You listen to me real good honey." Lanie advances towards him, lowering her arms. "You do _not_ get to give up on this, do you understand me? Not when you're this close."

"Lanie-"

"No!" She cries, raising her hand. "You don't have a choice. I'm not _giving _you a choice. You two have been running circles around each other for four damn years, and I'm sick of watching you take turns breaking!"

"She doesn't-"

"Richard Castle!" Her voice is steely, and he jerks his head up to hers, now directly in front of him.

"You're gonna quit interrupting right _now_," she jabs him in the chest with her finger, "or so help me I will smack you so hard you won't know which way is up."

He falls silent, tries to breathe around the vice constricting his chest.

"I want you to do something for me." The doctor continues, lowering her voice. "I want you to climb out of this little hole of self-pity you seem to have dug yourself into, and you're gonna think about how there could be any possible way that Kate Beckett doesn't love you."

Those are the words that finally break him, and everything comes tumbling free in a rush.

"How could she?" He bursts out, heartsick. This isn't fair, what she's doing. Giving him this false hope when all that he wants to do, _needs_ to do, is forget. Better to cut off all ties, burn all bridges, and abandon ship. Because if this goes on much longer, he's not sure he can stop himself from going down with it.

And that's assuming he hasn't already.

"She knew, for ten months, how I felt. If she felt the same way she wouldn't have kept it from me!"

Lanie regards him skeptically. "Come on writer man, think about that for a second. In all the time you've known Kate, when have you _ever_ known her talk to about her feelings?" When he remains silent, the doctor sighs.

"Did you ask her about her side of the story? Give her a chance to explain?" He jerks his head up.

"I-" He breaks off, eyes falling again to the floor.

"Mhm. That's what I though." She moves back to her spot on the couch, and he follows her reluctantly. When she speaks next, her voice is considerably gentler.

"She was hurting Castle."

He sucks in a breath, "she wasn't the only one," slipping out before he can stop it.

Lanie merely inclines her head. "We all were honey, in different ways. But Kate-" she pauses, searching for words. "She was… broken. And when you dumped that on her…" the doctor shrugs. "She panicked; ran. I'm not defending what she did," she clarifies when he shoots her a defiant look, "but Kate's never been one to be good with words. She'd much rather show how she feels. Or, even better, not say anything at all. Let things work themselves out."

"But honestly," she opens her jacket then, pulls her arm out of one of the sleeves. "In all the time you've been around her, when have you ever known Kate to do something without a reason?"

The doctor's shirt is a dark navy, almost black, but there's a large patch near her shoulder that's stained with a heavy darkness.

"'This is a two way street.'" She parrots back at him.

A cold trickle of realization flows down his spine, and he clenches his teeth, turns his head away. Damn. He didn't want- he made her-

"Look, it's your decision." The doctor continues, shrugging her jacket back on. "I'm just saying that this is her story to tell, and maybe you need to give her a chance to explain before you decide that you're going to completely give up on this; on _you_. "

Castle sighs, the last of his anger fading, until all that remains is a dull ache somewhere near his midsection.

Because he still wants this. Never _stopped_ wanting this, despite his best efforts. So if there's even a chance that she could still- could possibly-

"What do I have to do Lanie?" He asks, voice laced with a sudden desperation he didn't know he possessed. "How do I fix this?"

"You go over there, and you don't leave until she's told you. Everything."

Something small flickers in his chest at the word, but he dares not acknowledge it- not yet- lest it prove to be false.

"What if she doesn't want to talk?" Oh God. "What if she doesn't- what if she won't-"

"Castle_._" He glances at her, desperately. "She _will_."

Her voice is resolute, unwavering, and that, more than anything, reassures him.

"What do I do then Lanie?" He asks finally. " What do I do when she's done being silent?"

She meets his gaze head on.

"You listen."

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><p><strong>Thoughts?<strong>


End file.
